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“I think that if there was a draft, they would.” He worries that if John McCain becomes president, it might happen: “I don’t think he’d say he’d do that, but I think once he got in, he would. And then we’d see something big happening.”

Since being admitted to hospital in 2005, with a brain aneurism, Young has entered one of the most prolific phases of an already workaholic career. As well as touring, he has made three albums, finished one film, begun another, and completed his (very) long-awaited audiovisual career retrospective, Archives. (Two vintage live albums are already out.) The first big instalment of material, on Blu-ray discs, plus a hefty book, is finally due for release this autumn. Then there is his charity work for the Bridge School and Farm Aid.

“I feel like I have a lot to do,” he declares. “I really would like to work on the energy problem, on solutions to the oil need. I’d like to eliminate roadside refuelling.” To this world-changing end, he has been developing a prototype called the Linc Volt: a gas-guzzling 1959 Lincoln Continental (“2½ tons, 19½ feet long”) converted into an electrically powered, multifuel hybrid with its own generators.

It is a typical contradiction from a contrary character, who also drives a gigantic Hummer converted to biofuel, and is financing his project by selling off his huge collection of vintage cars. “My mission now, what I’m really focused on, is to work out a way to eliminate roadside refuelling and come up with a way to build a car that creates its own fuel and powers the owner’s house. The idea of the technology is a distributed power source. It’s a rolling generator with battery back-up: you plug it in and it puts power out.” I’m lost, but www. lincvolt.com explains the technology, he says.

Inevitably, Young — or, rather, Bernard Shakey — is making a documentary about it, and will be driving the vehicle all over America “to prove that a huge car can go anywhere on electric power without a problem”. Asked if he would consider this as much of a legacy as his music, Young immediately responds: “More than my music.”

Meanwhile, he says that he will steer clear of political statements during his European festival dates this summer. “I don’t wanna be like CNN, just playing the same thing over and over. I firmly believe in everything I said, but don’t know that I always wanna be harping on about the same thing. Otherwise, I might become redundant. I don’t want that.”

CSNY: Déjà Vu goes on general release on July 18; Neil Young plays Hop Farm, Kent, on July 6

Read archive reviews of Neil Young’s time with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at timesonline.co.uk/music

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